Rachel is Back
by Eveilae
Summary: HIATUS. Rachel's back but she's not going back to her own time. She going 500 years into the future...and she's got one more mission.
1. Living after Death

**A/n:Thebeginning of this chapterwill be from the books. The rest is mine. Well, not the characters. They're KAA's. Unfortunately. evil grin

* * *

**

The human child called to me. The human child was dying, and nothing I could do within the rules of the game could change that fact. The human child, one of those who called themselves Animorphs, asked me to explain. In that final moment, the human wanted to know: Was it all worth it? The pain, the despair, the fear. The horror of violence suffered, and the corrupting horror of violence inflicted, was it all worth it? I said I could not answer that. I said the battle was not yet done.

* * *

"You," I said accusingly.

"Yes."

"Who are you?" I demanded. "Who are you to play games with us? You appear, you disappear, you use us, who are you, what are you?"

* * *

"Yes," I said. "You do deserve an answer. To this question I will give all the answer I know. And when you know me, you will ask another question. And I will answer that question too. And then-"

* * *

And then, after what seemed a very long time, the Ellimist told me. I saw. I understood. But I also knew he would not save me. That he couldn't under the arcane rules of his millennia-long war with Crayak. The Ellimist was there to honor me, and I guess that was nice of him. Wasn't going to help me much. I wanted so much to live. I wanted so much to stay and not to leave. In a moment, no answer would matter to me, but just the same, I wanted to know what I guess any dying person wants to know.

* * *

The human was silent. No begging, no pleading for life. At the end, acceptance came even to this strong, turbulent sprit.

"You said I could ask one more question."

"Yes."

"I can't ask if we win, I can't ask if it will all turn out okay."

"I don't know those answers."

"Okay, then answer this, Ellimist: Did I. . .did I make a difference? My life, and my. . . my death . . .was it worth it? Did my life really matter?"

"Yes. You were brave. You were strong. You were good. You mattered."

"Yeah. Okay, then. Okay, then."

* * *

I wondered if-

Suddenly, I had the feeling I was being zoomed through space. Finally, weak and angry at the fact that even a peaceful death had been ripped from my hands, I spun around looking to see where I was. I examined my surroundings carefully. It was pitch black. I could spot little pinpricks of light far off, but they weren't bright enough to light up my spirit or anything even close to that. I could barely see myself there, even. I then felt more than actually saw movement. Not that there was anything to feel, but still. I don't know. I just kind of knew. "Who's there?" I asked the presence I felt but could not see.

There, in front of me was figure just like Toomin/Ellimist used to be. I felt as if I knew who she was. And yes, I was sure she was a SHE. She gave off these feminine vibes. It's kind of hard to understand. I just kind of knew. She smiled slightly.

"My name is Aguella," she said in a voice like music. I hadn't felt this good in a long time. She made my head feel light and airy. Then I snapped out of it and understood what she had just said. "Aguella? Toomin's-"

"Dead friend? Yes, that is correct."

"But you're dead!"

"So are you."

At that I froze and looked down at myself. I felt alive. Finally, I looked up at Aguella. "What is it you want from me?" They all wanted something.

She smiled again but this time in a grim kind of way. "In the year 2011 the world is to be blown to bits by a meteor called the Rock. Only eighty men, woman and children will survive. They will be driven into space with some half tested technology. The Eighty consist of a 14 year old boy named Jobs,his friend,Mo'steel, and his mutated brother Edward, Yago, the president's son, 2Face, a girl whose face was ruined by a fire-" At that I shivered as I remembered Taylor. "Violet, a girl whose parents have died and, D-Caf, a boy who (with his brother) tried to get onto the ship butwhose brother was killed, Kubrick, a boy who is full of anger and who Mother experimented on, Tamara and her baby, the baby who is a Shipwright and has taken prisoner of his "mother', Billy, a boy was awake all those 500 years, Tate. . ." Did she not know about the evilness of a run-on sentence? Their entire tale seemed me to be a run-on sentence.Areally, really longrun-on sentence

I sighed. "What does this have to do with me? And why aren't Cassie, Jake, Tobias and the others there? I mean, they should have lived until 2011, shouldn't they?"

Aguella gives me a look of sympathy. "All except Cassie left to save Axmilli from the One. They were killed. Cassie would not go on the ship. She refused the offer. Your friends are all dead."

I just shut down right then. "But**I'm** dead too! Why aren't**they** here? **WHY**!" I was crying by the time I had finished screaming.Icouldn't hold it all in. I just exploded.Why weren't they here? They **should**have been here. But they weren't.

Finally I had calmed down enough to ask a question. "Who is this One?"

"The One is the beginnings of Mother. The One is the primitive form of Mother, before she gets all her information. Before she goes mad."

I nodded to show I understood. "But what does this have to do with me?"

She sighed. "I need you to lead one group of the Eighty. I need you to help them."

"But why not Ax? He's good with computers. Jake? He could lead them. Cassie? She could calm them down. Marco? He could come up with a plan. Tobias could help them see things. Me? I'm the least useful."

"You are the chosen one, Rachel. Do not argue with the choices of the Watchers not a Buffy reference They control everything. They chose the chosen. They doom the doomed. They control what there is to be controlled."

"They DO NOT control my life! Only one person does that. And that person is me. Not the Watchers or whatever, but me. And seriously, what is up with the Buffy shit?"

"But will you help them?"

I thought for a moment. Could I say no? But suddenly I thought of something. "What's in it for me?" I could gain something from this. Not thinking of failure, then though.

She smiled. "I was waiting for you to ask me that. There is something in for you. There is no way to bring your friends back, but we could make a fake world for you to live in. A world where your friends are alive. A world where Tobias loves you and you can love him back in peace. But he will not be real. The whole world will not be real."

I wanted nothing more than that. I wanted nothing more than my Tobias. My sweet Tobias. Cassie. My best friend. Jake. My cousin. Marco. Ax. The Animorphs. I wanted them back. But would I be able to deal with people that weren't even real? But first had I to do this. And before _that_I had one more question.

"Is it possible for me to die?"

She nodded slowly and her eyes seemed troubled. "Yes. You will be turned into a real person. You will be 16 years old and you will be as real as you were when you died."

"Will I be able to morph?" I could be helpful in that way at least.

"Yes."

I sighed. "It seems there is only one answer for me, is there?"

"And it is?"

"I'll do it."

"You will feel slightly dizzy. Just close your eyes. Do not fight against it" I was doubtful for a moment. Hesitantly I closed my eyes and-


	2. Rouge and Company

A/N: This is placed right after book #6 in Remnants. All that happen from book 1-6 has happened here but from then on I'm making it up.  
  
I sat up. I looked at myself and saw myself wearing what I had worn the day I died. It didn't exactly set me in the best mood for my mission. Whatever that was. I shivered at the memory, which for me felt as if it had been yesterday. But I felt weird, not counting the clothing. I felt the side of my head, gingerly. It was bleeding. I quickly took my hand away. It was as if as soon as I had died I had been sent here. I looked down at my leotard and saw it was ripped where the bear had hit me. I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming.  
Suddenly I felt a hand grip my arm. I looked around and saw nothing. I felt unnerved. I had pretty much always known what to expect in my world but this wasn't Earth. This was Mother's ship. The One. The One who had killed Tobias. The One who had killed Jake, Marco and Ax. I felt the anger boil up inside of me.  
Suddenly I felt myself being hauled up. I was face-to-face with a guy that looked about 14. I remember that Aguella had said I would be 16. I tried not to think about what else she had said. About the fake world she could offer me as a reward. Stop, I commanded myself.  
"Who are you?" He didn't try to act all tough, like some guys would. I just looked like a guy that wished he wasn't there but dealt with it. Without thinking I asked him, "Are you D'Caf? No, you can't be. Yago? No, he has the green hair. Jobs?"  
He stared at me for a moment as if trying to place me. "Who are you?" he repeated. He had released my arms and seemed creeped out by my sudden appearance.  
I didn't want to say Rachel Berenson so I said the first thing that came to mind. "Melissa Chapman."  
A girl came up next to him. I saw she had once had a frilly kind of dress and knew immediately who she was. Miss Blake. I looked at her hands, just in case, and saw she only had nine fingers. She glared at me and said prudently, "That's not true. In sixth grade we had to a report on a famous person. I was appointed with Rachel Berenson." I almost smiled then, think of how I was, or had been, a famous person on Earth. That was very cool. "I found that one her friends before the war was Melissa Chapman. I also found that Melissa had died a year after the war, in 2002*."  
My excitement changed into sadness and worry. "How?"  
"Riot. Too many people didn't want to have people that had once been Controllers alive. They burned down the Chapman house. Everyone was killed."  
"McKitty!" I cried, before I could stop myself. I got some more weird looks.  
There was silence (as much silence as there could be anyway) as people came and the people that were already there stared at me some more. I bit my lip, nervously. Great, two seconds in this world and already I had messed up.  
Jobs finally snapped and spoke. "While we're on the subject, you look just like her. Rachel Berenson, not Melissa. Our school was named after her. Rachel Berenson High School. We had pictures of her all over." His tone was regretful. No wonder, he was talking about things that obviously hurt.  
Miss Blake looked at me. "More like a twin. She looks EXACTLY like her. The same eyes, same hair, same EVERYTHING. It's like a modern Michael Jackson, except for the fact she looks good. . ."  
I sighed. If I was going to lead these people, or at least safe them in some way, I would have to open up to them eventually. I had wanted some time to myself, though, before I became a celebrity. "That because I AM Rachel Berenson," I muttered.  
"What?" asked an incredulous Jobs.  
"You heard me." I stared him down and crossed my arms. "I AM Rachel freakin' Berenson." Suddenly some guy piped up. "You can't be. She's dead. She died way back when, in 2001. And plus, you would have been, what now? Twenty-six, not fifteen!" "Sixteen." I corrected with dignity. "She died ten years ago." Miss Blake agreed. "Well, five hundred and ten years, but who's counting?"  
"Well, I did die. But I was brought back by the Ellimist's dead friend."  
They all stared at me in confusion. "What the heck are you talking about?" a girl with half her face burnt, who I took as 2Face, asked. "Who is the Ellimist?" she demanded.  
"The Ellimist is a powerful being who used to be a Ketran. He fights a war with Crayak, an evil being. Or fought. A lot of things might have happened in the 510 years I've been gone."  
They still stared at me in a strange way. I sighed again. A person could get pissed off with an audience this unresponsive.  
"Look, we have been in hibernation for 500 years. Maybe you're a bit messed up. . .Which does bring up the question of exactly where you came from. . ." Jobs began logically.  
"I'm not messed up! I can prove I am Rachel Berenson!" I had just remembered I had the morphing powe. I had forgotten how horrible it had been my first time seeing someone morph. I began to morph a grizzly. I had been told that it was a bad morph to look at, just not as bad as a bug.  
At first I could see their faces clearly. They were staring at me in horror. My skin first began to sprout thick brown fur all over. My leotard bulged for a moment before it began to blend into my brown fur. By then my eyes had been getting smaller and my sight weaker. I suddenly saw my mistake. I wouldn't be able to see if they attacked. They might have weapons! I growled and hoped they didn't know much about bears. It worked. The blurry figures were getting smaller.  
I was done morphing. I thoughtspoke to them {*Now do you guys believe me?} I quickly demorphed and was slightly sad when I was back in my own body. Morphing was not one of my better memories, but at least in that body I felt strong. I was vulnerable in this body. I knew that better than anyone else. And the morphing brought more memories than I had thought it would. Of Tobias staying stuck in morph. My dear Tobias. Of Jake's tiger. Of Marco's gorilla and Cassie's wolf. How Cassie picked wolf. She picked it so she would do the least damage but still help out. I wished I could be so caring, so thoughtful. But I had long ago decided to live with myself. But maybe, if I had been a different person, I might have lived. I might have kissed Tobias one last time.  
But for what? My life for the lives of every free person on Earth? I couldn't have done that. No one would have done that. It wouldn't have been within my character. But I wished that, maybe, just maybe, it might have been.  
Suddenly I was snapped out of my thoughts by a voice. "So you are Rachel Berenson." It was a small boy, pale and he had a look of power. A tired power. He had the look of Jake, and it scared me. And not only did the look in his eyes creep me out, but the vibes I felt from him. A boy so small should not possess the powers of the Ellimist. "My name is-" he began. "Bobby. No, Bill. No, Billy Wyrd. Weir!" I had forgotten some names. But how could I forget one of the most important names on that list of the eighty? "Yes, Billy."  
I turned to the rest of the people. "You want to know why I'm here? I wasn't sure about two seconds ago. Now I am. I am here for some well deserved revenge. You see, this ship murdered my boyfriend, my cousin and some more people that I really cared about."  
"I have to say it'll be pretty hard killing her. You know, because of the whole, she's a loco ship, we're humans thing." These words came from the guy that had piped up before. He looked like a stronger Marco, actually. This could not get much creepier.  
"She wasn't loco when she killed Tobias!" I yelled, not even attempting to get my emotions in check. "She wasn't crazy when she murdered Jake, Ax and Marco! Because of her I will never see them again! I won't forgive her."  
"Would they have gotten on the Mayflower in the first place?" A girl I took for Tate asked me as she approached. "Taken the place of the people you died saving?"  
Suddenly I wished I hadn't said what I did. I sighed and rubbed my temples, unknowingly doing what my mother had done at times of stress. "I'm sorry. It's just we were so close. And to have them with me one day and find them dead another is so nerve racking." I took a deep breath and found a woman with her hand on my shoulder. "We have all suffered mostly the same losses. I have lost my husband, 2Face over here has lost both her parents and so have Jobs and Edward."  
"But no specific force killed them. It was space, natural."  
"No. Some were killed by worms."  
"What? Worms? Earthworms? Hello, is something wrong with that sentence?"  
"Huge worms. They rip right through your skin."  
I wasn't surprised. I had seen Taxxons, hadn't I? Heck, I had BEEN a Taxxon. Suddenly I felt a thought pass through my head. "Wait. Did you guys notice we're in the former Blade ship of Visser One? The place where I died."  
"So you did die." Jobs said quietly.  
I nodded slowly. "Yes. I did. I-I remember the last real thing I ever saw." I paused as I contemplated that memory. "A great big paw smacking against me. The thud as it slammed into me. The darkness flooding into my head as I died."  
I knew they were staring but I could have cared less. I felt the death pushing against me. How could I live my life if I would forever have my death being repeated in my head?  
Suddenly I spotted Kubrick. At first I just froze, staring at the skin. And I thought seeing so many alien species would prepare me for this. Then I relaxed as I remembered of what Aguella had told me. This was Kubrick. He was the angry one. The one who liked 2Face, also? I couldn't remember everything, could I? 2Face didn't seem half bad but you never really know. I had known so many traitors in my life.  
Then it was not only MY death that hit me, it was the ultimate death of all my friends. Not just the Animorphs, either. At least not a permanent one. David. What had happened to him? Had he been killed? Did Crayak himself kill him? I had so many questions that I felt as if my head might explode.  
Then I heard the voice before anyone else. I turned in the direction of it and smiled. The voice was singing, and singing a song I knew and at the moment could relate to.  
  
"Everyone's been in my face Tellin' me I gotta make a change  
All I ever hear day and night is 'You better hurry up and get a life'  
I need some direction- cause the clock is ticking away-"  
  
I smile, trying to remember who exactly had sung the song. Mat-no- Natalie Something.  
But Jobs interrupts my thoughts. "Who's there?"  
Then I saw her. She had long blonde hair and bright green eyes. She looked very much like an airhead, but of coarse, so did I. She wasn't too tall at all but her face was bright with excitement. She smiled at us and felt the guys of the group besides Billy and Rodger Dodger grin those puppy grins that guys can't help grinning when a really pretty cheerleader smiles at them.  
"Heil. I mean, hello. Friends. My name is Rouge." She said in a heavy German accent. 2Face frowned. "Oh no. not another one. You weren't at the Mayflower. I would remember you-"  
"You could forget such a face?" Mo-Steel said dreamily.  
Rouge laughed. "Back to business, I was sent. And yes, I was not sent with the Mayflower, Essence."  
"Call me 2Face, please. Although, there is no way you could know my name in the first place."  
Rouge smiles again. "That is the least important topic at the moment. Now please, listen."  
Mo'Steel nods as if he isn't really listening to a word she's saying and smiles shyly. Even Kubrick's wall of angry had been broken by this girl. No one speaks, not even me. "Thank you. I am dead, as is Rachel here." She looked over at me before continuing. "I was a victim of World War II or in other words, the Holocaust. I was a part Jew but that's good enough to Mr. Adolph Hitler." The last three were said with such contempt I was surprised. It didn't look like something that would come from a girl with the body of Rouge.  
I nodded slowly. "But who sent you, Rouge?"  
She smiled again. "The same who sent you. Or almost the same anyway."  
"Who? Aguella?"  
She shook her head. "No. Your good friend the Ellimist. You see, World War II was such a disaster that the Ellimist took pity on us Homo sapiens and chose one of us from all of the dead from the Holocaust. I just won the lotto, I guess. He took me as an apprentice. I remember once he asked me what I would most see when in a situation when I would be eaten and there was no way he could show me how to get out but he kind of, well, helps. He said it was these five humans down on earth."  
I almost gasped. But I'm not a gasping kind of person.  
"Anyway, I gave him an idea. I can't quite remember it now."  
"Was it an elevator?" I said weakly.  
She looked at me strangely. "Yes. How did you know?"  
"Because I am one of those five." I began slowly.  
"Well," she shrugs, "I know that. I mean, the Ellimist wouldn't have sent me here without any information, would he?" She curties and smiles her best smile at me. "I've always wanted to meet you-" She stands up straight again and sighs. "But, we have no time for niceties. Right now I have a job to do. Let us go, ladies and gentlemen. I am your host for to day. Follow me into the jungles of Mother." She walks off and one by one we all follow. If that leader-like pull had a name it could be called Rouge's pull because she had if perfected to an art.  
  
*=These are my thoughtspeak quotes. Please don't say that these '()' are the ones because I don't like to use those. 


	3. Whirlwind Bring Aliens

I was surprised by the hugeness of Mother. She was gigantic. I felt like I was really on an alien world. But all the time I also knew I was maybe stepping on the very place I died. The very place I killed Tom. I shivered at the thought. I had known I wasn't going to live it through, so at that moment I hadn't really thought about it being my COUSIN I was killing. I had. I had killed my cousin. Maybe in a way we had drove Jake to HIS death, too. I knew he would be depressed and I was afraid that was why he left Earth so many years ago and never came back.  
I had heard from Rogue the story. Mother/The One had killed Ax. The others, not yet knowing he was dead, went to rescue him. Ah, a last act of gallantry. They had rammed the Blade ship. But they didn't know the ship had grown a kind of intelligence. Mother/The One shot well, but still some of them still escaped. I wasn't surprised that Marco was one. But Tobias wasn't. He died at the hands of this strange ship, and I wasn't there for his final moment. A woman that had been with them and Marco managed to save her as well. Rogue told me that Marco and the woman eventually developed a relationship, since they had both seen things most that they met hadn't (Marco had seen more, though). I laughed when Rogue told me about how she had teased Marco. She reminded me of, well, me.  
I almost cried when she told me about the deaths of my dear friends. Tobias. His head was rammed into the control panel and died slowly, screaming in pain as 'The One' mocked him. My poor, poor Tobias. My love. . .  
Jake. He tried to take control but slid across the floor and slipped into space. He died of lack of air. How ironic. He came from a world where the air seemed without end.  
The male student of Jake. He was stabbed in the heart with a tube that came loose during the ram. He died immediately.  
The Andalite nothlit. He plunged a small knife into his stomach. He died of blood loss.  
I grieved for the lives of my friends. Of my love. Of my cousin. Of the strangers that were with them at the end.  
  
I wanted to see Tobias again. See Cassie-  
  
Wait. Rouge didn't say Cassie went with the others. What happened to Cassie in the end?  
I turned to Rouge and gripped her shoulder tightly. I felt her stiffen, and then relax her shoulder as she saw it was me. "Rouge. Cassie. What happened to Cassie?"  
Rouge looked down at the ground. "Cassie was going to be one of the Eighty. But she gave her spot to someone else."  
"She did? Who did she give it to? Who?"  
"Tamara and her Baby."  
I frowned. "Tamara . . Tamara-" My eye grew wide. "and her Baby?! You mean, my best friend did that?! No." I could not stop the tears from starting. She just sat down in the grass and covered my face in my hands.  
Rouge nodded sympathetically. "She didn't know that the hibernation would have such an affect on the baby. She had no idea. If she had-"  
"So Cassie's dead too?" I interrupted flatly.  
"Yes. She died with everyone else down on Earth five hundred years ago."  
I remained silent. Cassie. Tobias. Jake. Marco. Ax. My friends. My second family. All gone. Except me. Except me.  
I looked at the people surrounding me. Would I ever be close to them as I was with the Animorphs? I doubted it. But it was possible. I maybe just didn't want it to be true.  
Jobs turned to look at me. "So you've lost everyone?"  
I looked at him "Yes. I have. Every single one." I felt my eyes get moist so I turned away. "My boyfriend, my best friend, my cousin, my cousin's best friend, my boyfriend's uncle." Then my eyes grew wide.  
"The Chee." I said softly, so softly I was sure no one hear. 2Face, who was close enough looked at me.  
"Cheese? What a time to think of cheese!" She half sneered. I glared at her. I wasn't ready to take any shit from her but would let her get away with it, just this once. She was about two years younger than me and I had much more experience in fighting then she could ever dream of having.  
"I said, the Chee." I turned to Rouge. "Did any of them escape the explosion?"  
Rouge shrugged. "I know only what the Ellimist told me. And he didn't tell me this."  
I was almost giddy. If the Chee survived-  
Then my giddiness slipped from my grip. I felt the same emptiness I had been feeling before. There was little chance that the Chee had survived. If the Chee could barely live- surivive, I corrected myself- through a Dracon Beam how could they possibly survive through 'The Rock'?  
Even if they did, what difference did it make? They could no more bring back the dead than I could. They would be no help. Sure, I could get some information about what happened back at the Blade Ship, but besides that it would just cause me more sadness.  
And, to add to that list, how close could we possibly be to Earth. We were most probably 5 centuries worth of light years away from Earth. There was no way I could control Mother enough to make it move back towards Earth.  
I was swallowed up in my grief again when a sound split through our silence. A shape appeared from the sky. It was like a whirlwind and I felt myself rise slowly off the ground. I had not felt so helpless in a long time. I yelped in surprise and immediately thought of the bird. But I didn't get through the morph. The wind kept slipping through my mind so it was impossible for me to get to the concentration level it took to morph. I let out a cry in my rage that was lost in the noise of the whirlwind.  
I looked up at the shape that cause this damn wind and if I were still on the ground my knees would have felt weak. I let out another cry as I bumped into something. I had no time to see who or what had hit me but it hurt enough to cover for that. And to top that I spinning enough make myself feel like puking. Ugh, how much worse could this possibly get?  
That was stupid of me to say, for no one knows better than me that when you think it can't get worse, it usually does. And it sure did. The shape, which had been a deep purple swirled with a light yellow and a medium shade blue, now turned a dark deep black. It held a terrible blankness that was strangely attracted to. I felt my arm outstretch towards it but it was turned out of direction by the wind that pushed my around.  
Then something came from the black shape. It was a weird shape that I made me think back to something Rogue had described. A ship? No, that couldn't be right. She'd remember in time it's name but for now she settled with knowing that they were like Mother's helpers. And I knew what it looked like.  
I gasped in surprise. The Iskoot were the last things I thought about. I strained my memory to try and remember when the Ellimist had said the Iskoot would meet with the Yeerks, who were much like them. Three centuries it was, I guess. The time when we defeated the Howlers for the Ellimist seemed a lifetime ago. It might as well have been.  
But I knew that these were not the same Iskoot that I had been acquainted with long ago. They had changed, maybe in more than their appearance. Maybe they were no longer the makers and shoppers they once were.  
But two whole centuries with the Yeerks were bound to change them. And hopefully whatever Yeerks there were left were changed by the Iskoot as well. I could only hope, of coarse. I sighed, but that too was lost in the noise of the whirlwind.  
Almost as soon as the whirlwind came it left us. We all were back on the the thankfully solid ground, our clothes and hair mussed up horribly. Only Rouge and the Iskoot seemed untouched by the wind. Rouge was standing as if she hadn't floated up along with the rest of us. Maybe she hadn't. I didn't know because I had not been able to see clearly from the whirlwind.  
Rouge looked at the Iskoot and raised an eyebrow. "Aciha? Why are you here?"  
The Iskoot- Acia or something, it was a wonder how she pronounced it- just stood there. The Remnants were staring at the Iskoot with wide eyes. But by now I was building up my courage to ask the Iskoot about what had happened to them the last 500 years.  
Not noticing there was a weird silence going on until too late I asked in a louder voice than I had expected, "Excuse me, are you one of then Iskoot that I, with my companions saved one day about 500 years ago from a species called the Howlers? My name is Rachel and I was one of those that could change shape. Are you an Iskoot at all?"  
The Iskoot turned its eyes on me. I could see it wide in surprise. "But we heard nooz. We were told you were deed!" He pronunciation of English sounded like my French. Which is, of coarse, horrible beyond belief.  
"Well, I'm not. At least, not yet? Who told you I was dead?" I asked, ready for anything except what the answer was. I never expected that.  
"Tom Berenson." 


	4. Tom's Son

My eyes grew wide. "It's impossible. I killed him." That simple phrase sent me shaking like someone had gripped my shoulders and was shaking me themselves. I killed him. I killed my cousin. I knew it, I had been torturing myself with that fact since I had died. And all that was for nothing?  
But I had had a reason, hadn't I? Better dead than Controller, right? It was better for Tom. Tom the human. I had had no choice. I had had to destroy Tom.  
"TOM!" I yelled, taken over by the urge to have Tom the human back. Not Tom the Controller, as I had grown to think of him. He and I had never been very close but we did things together sometimes. But, that was before the Sharing. Before the Yeerks. Before Elfangor. Before the Animorphs. When we still felt young and were innocent (not very innocent, but innocent compared to what we became during the war).  
I didn't expect anyone to respond to my yell. But someone did. Out of the portal-thingy came a kid. Not very young, really. Just a year or so younger than my sixteen year old self.  
He had my eyes.  
I stared at him hard. He didn't look much like me, really. Who he really looked like was-  
Jake.  
But how? I was stricken at familiar look in this boy. But this boy did not have those sad, war haunted eyes that I had connected with Jake's appearance. But Jake had died, right?  
The boy smiled. It was like he knew what I was thinking. Maybe he did. A lot was possible, even in my own time. Much more in this time. But there was little chance this kid was Jake's son. And Jake wouldn't have a relationship.Unless it was with Cassie. They were in love. Even after the war, they loved each other. It just didn't work out. But he had nothing of Cassie, none of his soft features.  
Would Tobias and I have worked out? Tobias could have morphed human, stayed human. But would he? He had grown to love being a hawk. Could he possibly live without flying again? And if he were needed and unable to help, would he be able to live with himself?  
I was snapped out of my thoughts by the boy's words. Was I growing into a daydreamer? "No, I am not your cousin's son. . .Rachel." He spat out my name, like a curse. "Well, at least not Jake's. Even though I have been told several times I take his appearance." He smiled again, leering at my surprise.  
It took all my emotional strength to hold myself back and keep my face emotionless. I could not show weakness. "You can not be Tom's son. First, Tom is dead. I killed him." I felt my voice crack and cleared it before continuing, hoping my eyes weren't as wide with anger and sadness as I thought they were. "Second, It's been almost five hundred and ten years since he's been dead."  
The boy's grin spread wider. "Yes, my father was murdered by you. But thanks to my master, The Almighty, The Lord, my father came back. He.had more than one baby, sadly."  
"You mean you have a twin?" I couldn't help the anger that made my voice shake. There were a few choices of who this 'Almighty' was. I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it.  
One, Crayak.  
Two, Visser Three/One.  
Three, Mother/The One.  
Four, someone I hadn't met yet and hopefully do not want to meet.  
The boy shrugged. "Not quite. The Almighty killed one of your people to allow me hibernated in time to meet these. . .visitors." He smirked in a way that made his face turn into a look of happy pain. If that's even possible.  
"But my brother.well, he awakened a few years after I. You see I awoke many years ago from hibernation. About fifteen years. My brother awoke with your friends here." He signaled to the others. I had already forgotten they were there.  
"Who is your brother?" I asked, totally afraid of the answer but ready face it with courage. If I had any left.  
"The one your friends call 'The Baby', of coarse."  
I felt the others squirming. I didn't turn to look at them. It would have been a waste of time. But I needed to know one thing. To know two things, actually.  
"OK. First, what is your name?" I began, hoping Tom had not further mocked Jake by naming the boy after him. "Second, are you a Controller? And third, is Tom still alive?" The last question came out without my permission. I cursed myself inwardly. I could not stand having to kill him again.  
"My name is." he paused and frowned. Then he continued. "I do not have a name. A name holds no value and is waste of time. I probably wouldn't like my name anyway. For your second question the answer is no. My father's Yeerk died five hundred and ten years ago. I am free of those slimy slugs." he said it with such contempt that I was almost convinced. But something in me just wasn't convinced. I let him go on. "And my father passed away a year ago, I think. We no longer find keeping track of time of extreme importance anymore but there was no point losing hundreds of years worth of habit," he explained.  
I was silent for a little while. I wanted to have my mind cleared out of these thoughts. They were torture. All my friends, dead. Because of those slimy slugs. But also, would Tobias and I have had the relationship we had without the invasion? Would Jake and Cassie had? Would Tobias had lived a better or worse life? There was no way to tell.  
I finally looked back up at Nameless. "How about I give you a name? More for me than for you really. I need to call you something."  
At that time Billy Weir spoke up. "Adrian.Ahren..Aidan..Blaze.." He sounded like he was in a trance, reciting the names he heard in his mind. I looked at Jobs, hoping he might have an explanation for this behavior.  
Jobs shrugged slightly. He looked amazed.  
Billy's eyes rose to meet Nameless's. "Will." He said softly. "That is your name, Nameless. Will."  
"Will, huh?" I muttered to myself.  
"I have no name!" Will yelled.  
"Too late. From now on, you're called Will."  
He glared at us angrily. "Who are you to name me, Rachel? Do you still think your strong? Even after you died?"  
I didn't answer. I couldn't answer. I let Billy speak instead. Billy sighed. "Who are you really, Will?"  
"Don't call me Will." Will spat. If looks could kill I wouldn't be telling this story right now, that's for sure.  
"Look, WILL," I said with extra emphasis on the Will. That was a mistake.  
He jumped and I was amazed at the gracefulness of it all. He looked like a human cat. And jumped about as far.  
"Oof!" was all I managed to say when he landed on my stomach, causing me to fall and slam my head into the ground.  
The monkey kid, Mo of some sort (my brain was fuzzy about now), was at my side, as if ready to fight. He grinned slightly. He reminded me of well . . .me.  
But I merely pushed Will's legs away with all my strength, making the kid fall onto his back. Jobs pulled Mo back into the crowd of others. I was glad someone had a bit of sense. It would be better if just I died, instead of both of us.  
But I felt even more alone as Will grinned, his teeth unnaturally white for any human, especially one without a toothbrush . . .right?  
"You may be my father's cousin, but that will not stop me from killing you. You better watch your back .You ain't got your boyfriend to save you."  
"Shut up." I hissed. But I knew he had struck a nerve. Those words had just sent me flying back down memory lane. And that isn't the right direction when you're being attacked. And Will knew it well. But he got off me, anyway. I looked down to see mud stains on my shirt.  
"I suppose you deserve respect. After all, you did help free us of the Yeerks." he didn't sound a bit sincere.  
There was a voice from nearby. "Back off." It was Rouge. Will definitely backed off. "?Ereh gniod uoy era tahW? ?!EguoR!?"  
"!Ffo kcab dias I!" Rouge said back, in a language I was far from understanding, no matter how familiar it sounded.  
I was starting to get pissed at this conversation. "Look, talking in freakin' ENGLISH!"  
Rouge sighed. "Look, its just Sidraw!"  
"I didn't understand a single dumb word! So I don't really care what it's called. Just speak in English."  
"Not my problem." Rouge, for the first time, let her authority shine. I back off for the moment, but I wouldn't let her slide next time.  
Will glared. "Sorry to break up the party but-"  
"!Pu tuhS!" Rouge sent a glare his way and he clutched his neck as if it pained him.  
Will clutched his neck and cried out, "!Og em teL!" Rouge looked triumphant.  
I looked at Will and Rouge. They knew each other? From where? Rouge had been dead since forever and Will had been born fifteen years ago. What was going on here?  
Suddenly a thought came to me. Why wasn't Tobias brought back to life, like Rouge? Its not like he didn't deserve it.  
Billy locked eyes with me. I could feel his mind reaching out. It was so close. Did I want his mind seeing what saw? He would see what I had been before. What I probably still was. A killing machine. And I didn't want to think about that.  
I pulled my mind away. Maybe later.  
For now, I had bigger fish to fry.  
BOOOOOM!  
A huge crash went through the ship. And I had a feeling I knew what it was.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Who did these girls think they were? This Rouge and this Rachel. Sure, Rachel had saved the world. Hey, by the way, almost that entire world was dead anyway. So Rachel had nothing over us.  
They both thought they were so much better than the rest of us. I wasn't going to let them walk all over me. I had to do this for us all. I had to kill those two.  
Most of the others wouldn't agree with me at all. But that wasn't my problem. I had been having enough trouble with Yago. Now I had to face Rouge and Rachel as well. Only one of us could survive. And I was going to make sure that one was going to be me. 


End file.
